Similar to human babies, puppies should not be left alone unsupervised. Just like babies, puppies are not fully aware of what is the expected protocol and might make mistakes. Do ensure that there is somebody who can be with the puppy to make sure he is monitored. This lessens the frequency of mistakes committed. Time and patience is a natural part of the learning curve. A puppy is not seen to be house-trained until he manages to avoid defecating in the house for at least 4 weeks. Bear in mind that it might take slightly longer if you are training older dogs.

Until then, you should keep a constant vigil over him, set up baby gates to control his movements in the house and confine him to his crate when unsupervised. Take note that if your puppy squats and urinates when he greets you, he may probably suffer from submissive urination. Such dogs are hypersensitive and should not be scolded for this behavior, since punishment only worsens the problem. However, as he grows older, he will no longer do this if you are calm and quiet. Or you could ask him to sit down for a tasty treat till someone greets him.

To prevent your puppy from committing the same mistake, you should remove all urine and fecal odor so that your puppy does not return to the same spot in your house where he made a mess. They have an innate tendency to go back to a spot they visited earlier.

To completely remove the odor, use a good deodorizer for doggy odors. If he urinated on a carpet, saturate it with a cleaning agent. Shut off all those rooms in your house where your puppy has made frequent mistakes. Let him enter here only when accompanied by a family member.

An extra tip to remove urine from carpet is to use black lights to find the exact urine spot to make cleaning more efficient. You can use commercial or create a homemade deodorizer by mixing 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Take note that you should never use ammonia on a urine spot. It will encourage your dog to return to the same spot.

As mention earlier, it is quite natural for a dog to make a mess during the potty training period. This is why you need to be ready to handle these problems.

a. Punishing him only after a mistake has been committed will slow down the speed of training.

b. Be patient. Like any training endeavor, potty training requires a lot of patience. Don’t rub his nose into his mess. This will not teach him not to repeat it and will only end up making him frightened of you.

c. If you catch him while he is in the midst of doing, stop him with a quick grab of his collar and pull him up while making a startling sound, a sharp noise or say “No” using your deep, stern tone loudly. Do this only when you catch him red-handed, but be sure not to be too loud or he will eliminate in front of you or perhaps even outdoors.

d. Then, take him outside and let him finish what he is doing. Lastly, pat him on his head while saying “Good boy!” or praising him. It is important to show your dog praises whenever he does something correct. Giving him food as a reward when he does his business in the appropriate spot can help too.

During potty training, the use of common sense will aid you big time in dealing with your puppy’s housebreaking endeavor. Use your common sense to determine the amount of water given to the dog before his bedtime especially if he is prone to urinating in the middle of the night. It will be useful to try to suit his timing initially before trying to get the dog to adjust to your timing.

Aside from patience and common sense, consistency is also one of the important factors of this dog training activity. If you suddenly forget about the routines yourself, don’t blame if your dog if he starts committing accidents more often.

Remember that the stakes are high

Age Specific

Choose food specifically made for puppies. As a general rule, it’s better to buy brand name puppy food rather than generic or low-priced food. You can’t really tell from the ingredient whether or not a particular food is good or bad.

Many things that you would look for on the labels of food you buy for yourself — extra protein or vitamins — may actually harm your pet rather. Over supplementing can be factors in major health issues for your dog, including contributing to hip dysplasia or other orthopedic problems.

Size Specific

Look for large breed puppy food if you have a large breed puppy (great dane, rottweiler, german shepherd, etc.) It isn’t just the kibble size that’s different,large breed food is actually formulated differently than regular puppy food. It is specially made for very rapidly growing puppies.

How Often Should I Feed My Puppy?

Very young puppies do better when offered food three times a day. As they grow, they will require fewer feedings, but will eat more at each feeding. If your puppy doesn’t seem to be hungry that often, cut the feedings down to twice a day.

After ten or twelve weeks of age, you should just offer food twice a day — once in the morning, and once in the evening. Even adult dogs should eat two times a day. If you are currently feeding your grown dog two cups of food once a day, try feeding one cup twice a day instead.

Dogs who are only feed once a day often become overly hungry and then overeat when they are fed.

How Much Should I Feed My Puppy?

Let your puppy eat as much as she wants in fifteen minutes and then pick up the food dish. Again, this holds true for adult dogs as well.

Having food continually available encourages overeating. Pet obesity is on the rise, and many people don’t realize that the affects on your dog are just as deadly as they are to people.

Often free-fed puppies never get very hungry, so they become finicky eaters — which leads to feeding treats. Treats are OK, but don’t let them become an important part of the diet.

Remember, those cute little chubby puppies will grow up to be fat adult dogs with orthopedic issues such as hip dysplasia, torn cruciate ligaments, luxating patellas, etc., as well as the same cardiac issues humans suffer.

Canned food vs. dry food.

We used to think that canned food was bad for your puppies teeth. But, research has shown that’s not the case. The myth of dry food being better for your dog’s teeth has turned out to be just that — a myth.

In fact, for young dogs, canned food is probably the better choice overall because of the extra moisture content. Although I will be the first to admit dry food is cheaper and easier to use.

To Recap:

Feed age specific food Feed name brand rather than generic Feed size specific food Feed very young puppies 3 times a day, then cut back to 2 times a day Canned or dry food is a personal preference, not a health issue

Tired of your lovely dog peeing all over the places, trying to teach she/he how to use a potty? Here are some essential points to potty training.



A suitable potty is very important if you want to potty train your dog to eliminate indoors. You can find plenty of potties on Ebay and Amazon for a fair price. And what you want is something with a splash back and has a post for the dog to aim at, not just a tray.

If you use old newspaper to absorb the dog’s urine, insert a single soiled sheet of newspaper into the fresh stack of newspapers when you are cleaning up the potty. It keeps some smell of the dog in the newspapers, the dog will be encouraged to use the potty again when the dog can sense the smell.

Just like us, dogs don’t enjoy using toilet in the same room where they eat and play. If your dog has an accident in a clear area, then feed and play with the dog there. It will keep the dog from doing it again in the same place.

Like all other training, your dog needs some positive reason to use a potty, do encourage the dog with praise when he/she uses the potty correctly.

Adult dogs are easier to train than puppies. Adult dogs are more responsive to commands. They already have fully developed muscles for bladder control. They can hold it much longer. If you just got your dog from someone else, it’s a good idea to ask the previous owner about the dog’s training and behavior history, just so you have a clue on how to train the dog.

Puppies get accustomed to the surface they eliminate on. So don’t change this until he/she is fully house trained.

Lastly, take note from others. Watch some videos you can find on google to teach you how to train you dog to use potty.



You may find the detail instruction on dog potty training at this dog potty training page.

Dog toys are essential to keep your dog occupied to stop barking problems, boredom issues and through teething times for your dog. Finding a good toy for your dog through these times is essential, leaving your dog with a bad chew toy that they don’t like will leave your dog with no option but to chew something else, there are many chew toys available so the choice is endless.

Dental health for your dog will be greatly improved by chewing toys so it is important to keep your dog interested in the toy choice you give them. Popular toys usually contain something that tastes good, smells good, some light up, and others make noises to keep you dog entertained. If the toy is fun for your dog then you can use it to reward your dog for good behavior or take it from them when they are bad.

Different Dogs enjoy different textures and tastes, you will need to find what your dog likes to chew and try your best to find a similar product but without it being as destructive to your house like their old toy, the table leg, was.

Avoiding tugging toys may be a good idea in some cases, more excited breeds of dog and puppies especially will get the message that tugging is fun for you as well as your dog, thus encouraging him to tug at you trouser legs when they’re in need of attention and curtains when they’re bored. Personally I would avoid theses toys.

When looking for a good toy for your dog, here are some good suggestions:

1. Look for a dog toy with something different like sound, taste, or lights.

2. Pick a dog toy that is tough enough to withstand your dogs chewing and biting

3. Choose dog toys that you think your dog will enjoy, using experience of what he normally chews is a good idea.

Remember that choosing a dog toy all depends on the dog in question, each dog will have different tastes and experiences of what they enjoy, something as cheap and simple as a tennis ball could be enough to keep your dog occupied for hours on end.